Sunday, January 30, 2011

Lisa's Logbook - January 30

Current Mood: Lazy

Outside: Sunny and cold, but not as cold as last week. It's 20 degrees and feels like 7 with the wind chill.

Wearing: PJ's and a robe, wool socks.

Tunes: Been mostly listening to TRON: Legacy soundtrack on the stereo and Dragonfly in Amber in my earbuds. Oh and the dueling cellos playing Smooth Criminal.


Kids Are: 3 are still asleep. 1 is playing with Legos, I think.

Hubby Is: walking around in the other room.

Made Me Laugh: watching Firefly with David

Made Me Sad: The snaps keep popping off my coat. V. annoying. (OK, not really sad.) I keep sewing them back on but they don't stay.

Made Me Drool: Candy is starting to tempt me a little - after a month, I guess it would.

Blessings: Love my electric blanket! And my wool socks!

Reading: Dragonfly in Amber (audiobook) by Diana Gabaldon -I'm just loving every moment. Just finished the 4th Tuesday Next book - Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde. Now I really should put in some time for Emma.

Watching: Finished watching Wallis and Edward. Watched several episodes of Firefly. (OK, I may give Castle another try.... lol) I think that's all. Oh wait, one episode of Downton Abbey.

Considering: Going to see a movie today. But what?

Working On: Costumes for the Regency Ball. I am taking pictures as I go and will post when they are all done. But so far, I've picked out some seams and recut some key features. Also I ordered some trim online for my gown and for Emily's.

Accomplishments: Made it 4 weeks with no sweets! Can you believe that!?

Lessons: Ordered the Reading Reflex book on my friend's recommendation.

Agenda: Lessons, working 4 hours M-F, David has drivers' training 3 nights, free movie night at the nearby cinema (Sound of Music), Co-op, Trying to add exercise back into the schedule.

Pic: Emily took some photos of scrapping weekend. Here is one that shows most of the large room we used for scrapping. Please note the TV; we never scrap without one. I am sitting closest to the TV, on the far right of the frame. My hair is in a ponytail.


Sunday, January 23, 2011

Lisa's Logbook - January 23

Current Mood: Relaxed

Outside: Sunny and VERY cold, with a couple inches of snow on the ground. About 10 degrees with a wind chill of -1.

Wearing: pink tee under a long sleeved blue tee under a grey sweatshirt, jeans, socks, and slippers. Hair in ponytail. No makeup.

Tunes: Been mostly listening to TRON: Legacy soundtrack on the stereo and Dragonfly in Amber in my earbuds.

Kids Are: 1 is at a party, 2 are on the computer, 1 is finishing up some dishes.

Hubby Is: shaving

Made Me Laugh: Book club last night!

Made Me Sad: Hearing sad news from a couple of friends.

Made Me Drool: Watching North and South, especially those last 4 minutes!

Blessings: WARM HOUSE!

Reading: Dragonfly in Amber (audiobook) by Diana Gabaldon. Soon will begin Emma by Jane Austen for Austentatious class and soon thereafter beginning Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell for book club - both on librivox audio. I have a few books from the library but not much time to actually read.

Watching: Not much this week. I watched and DO NOT RECOMMEND The Kids are All Right. (I fast forwarded quite a bit and closed my eyes for quite a bit.) Watched about half of Wallis and Edward before my eyes just wouldn't stay open. And of course, watched North and South at book club.

Considering: what else can I do to make our house more of a place I enjoy being. I am trying to find and display things that make me happy to look at them. Not just junk that fills every space, kwim? Found a couple nice "treasure chest" style boxes on clearance at Hobby Lobby this week.

Working On: Cleaning out the back room - just about done! Also, David is painting the cabinets and trim in the kitchen this weekend (in return for money for drivers ed). He says he likes to paint, so I will probably continue to pay him to do the dining room and other stuff. So nice to have children old enough to do good work!

Accomplishments: Made it 3 weeks with no sweets! Finished reading The Mysteries of Udolpho!

Lessons: Going to do a reading evalution on Suzy with some materials a friend (who is also a reading specialist) gave me.

Agenda: Lessons, working 5 hours M-F, David has drivers' training 2 nights, Austentatious movie night (Mansfield Park)

Pic: David in his tailcoat ($19 on ebay) and Emily in her gown ($10 at Goodwill). Both will need to be modified. David's coat mainly just needs the front waist line recut to be straight across instead of pointed. I also will probably need to relocate the buttons and add buttonholes. (Ack! Buttonholes!) Emily's needs a bit more work, so we may still look for a different gown. I will need to recut the neckline, gather the sleeves to make them puffy, and probably add an overskirt and some trim around the hem. But we have the bare bones of our outfits. I also have a pair of white breeches for David, as well as a top hat. Looking for shoes for both of them, and a shirt for David, yes, a nice puffy sleeved pirate-y shirt!



Monday, January 17, 2011

Lisa's Logbook - January 17

Current Mood: Annoyed (I have to drive to Flint tomorrow and a pile of snow is in the forecast)

Outside: Overcast with snow on the ground, about 22 degrees with a wind chill of about 7. NOT going out.

Wearing: grey long sleeved tee, grey sweatshirt, black yoga pants, socks, and slippers.

Tunes: It's been mostly Udolpho playing in my headphones all week. I also have WOW Hits 2011.

Kids Are: making lunch and one is shrieking. And one is on his laptop.

Hubby Is: At work. And last night he volunteered at the homeless shelter.

Made Me Laugh: hanging with my besties this weekend!

Made Me Sad: That my friend Donna couldn't be with us for scrapbooking....

Made Me Drool: Playing with the Cricut at scrapbooking weekend -SO COOL!

Blessings: Such wonderful friends to scrapbook with and my family who doesn't mind if I take a weekend for scrapbooking.

Reading: Trying to read Edge by Jeffrey Deaver but I just can't find time. I am ALMOST done listening to The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe. Should finish tomorrow. It was far better than I imagined it would be.

Watching:
11 movies at scrapbooking weekend: The Young Victoria, Sahara, The Proposal, Knight and Day, 17 Again, Lars and the Real Girl, Inception, Charlie St. Cloud, Robin Hood (Russell Crowe),
and couple more I can't remember now. Should have kept a list.

Firefly episodes 2-3 (the tv show) and an episode of American Pickers.

Considering: how/if David's costume will be steampunk. And what can we do with his hair? Also thinking about Emily's hairdo for the ball.

Working On: Regency costumes. Just ordered David a tail coat (used, ebay) that will need a little alteration. This is instead of SEWING him a jacket.

Accomplishments: Made it 2 weeks with no sweets! And I did not eat even ONE piece of chocolate during an entire scrapbooking weekend! I also have reduced the amount of creamer I use in my coffee by 1/2.

Lessons: Chose some documentaries to watch from the PBS catalog I got in the mail. The ones I liked were ALL on Netflix. Some were on instant! LOVE that!

Agenda: Lessons, working 5 hours M-F, a meeting Tuesday (maybe), David starts drivers' training, Eye dr for Emily, co-op, BOOK CLUB!

Pic: sings: "You could really be a Beau Brummel, baby, if you just gave it half a chance."

Yep, this is him - Beau Brummel, baby. Regency fop extraordinaire!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Swagbucks and Group Buying Power Sites

Here are my favorite sites for group buys (usually half-off deals):

Seize the Deal
http://www.seizethedeal.com/users/new/TLsSuGBoc

Groupon
http://www.groupon.com/r/uu10858895

Living Social
https://livingsocial.com/redeem_invite/17628583-lisaqu?ref=lnk

Check out Swagbucks to earn amazon.com gift certificates and many other valuable rewards.
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Lisaquing
It's easy to search through swagbucks and win!

This is my favorite site for finding swagbucks deals. Look at her recent posts in the sidebar for her daily swagbucks post entitled “Winning Ways on Swagbucks”. (Be sure to check out the list of stuff she has won with swagbucks!)
http://www.frugal-freebies.com/

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

How We Do... Bible Lessons

I thought I'd do a series of posts on how we do each of our academic subjects. I'll start where we begin our days - with Bible lessons. Three main components comprise our Bible class - Singing, Bible reading, and Prayer.

We always begin with singing. We have quite a list of hymns and praise choruses we have learned over the past few years. Currently we are learning a new hymn each month and reviewing a previous one each day. I choose the new hymns and the kids take turns choosing one from our repertoire. I have each hymn listed on a 3x5 card and we are working through the entire pack, not repeating any before we get through the stack. We sing acapella.

I have been collecting hymn books for a while. We had all different ones for a couple years, but a few months ago, I found several all the same at a thrift store. So now we have enough for us all to use the same ones, even if they are rather well-used. Adds to their character, right?

Learning hymns is beneficial in a number of ways. Children will learn what to expect in some churches. They learn about using indexes, about reading music, about the composers and lyricists, as well as hearing some great poetry. All that even without the spiritual benefits, which I find are many. I have memorized quite a few great hymns and they often come back to me in times of need.

After singing, we move into Bible study. We are still using the versatile four-volume Bible Study Guide for All Ages which we have been using for about 10 years. I wrote a blog post about it almost 2 years ago. As with everything else, our methods change as we grow and as our lives change. We just finished Volume 1 for the second time and have started Volume 2. My goal is to finish the remaining three volumes before David graduates so that he and Emily will have done all four volumes twice. We'll do our best to meet that goal.

What we are doing right now is about three days a week we are doing 1 or 2 lessons a day. I am not doing the workbook/activity sheet portion of the program as seen on the website. I am only using the teacher manual. We take turns reading aloud the assigned Scriptures for the lesson(s), usually 1-3 chapters. I divide the day's verses into 4-5 portions and have the kids read them aloud. This gives them a chance to work on elocution and reading something they haven't practiced. After they read aloud, I ask them to summarize the selection. One of my children has a great deal of trouble with summaries, but has improved since working on this. Suzy (my youngest at age 8) has a lot of trouble reading, but has lately been asking to also read a verse - a HUGE improvement for her!

We used to do the comprehension questions after each lesson, but we can easily take an hour to do Bible if we do the program as written. So what I've started doing is taking one day a week to do a review, using the built-in color-coded review system in the manuals. We do the review like a quiz show or competition sometimes, which adds a level of fun (or sometimes frustration! lol). These questions go back to previous lessons and even previous volumes to keep the learning fresh.

The last thing we do is prayer time. I've recently felt the need to be more structured with that so I added in a prayer journal I had for a number of years after seeing it mentioned at my MOPS group. I never used it in my personal prayer time, but I decided to use it with the kids. We are working on several main components of prayer - worship, thanksgiving, confession, and petition. Keeping track of prayer requests has been another big recent change for us. I want the kids to see how prayers are answered - sometimes yes, sometimes no, sometimes quick, sometimes not as quickly as we'd like. For now I am doing most of the praying aloud, but I am expecting the kids to start taking part in that, eventually being able to lead it. Leading prayer aloud is something I want them all to be comfortable with before leaving our home.

What I know we are missing is Bible memory. I need to add that in, but right now it just seems overwhelming. Maybe just saying that here is enough to get me started. Anyone have a great list of verses to memorize?


Note: We have not been using the flannel figures as described in another post I wrote on Bible lessons. I wish we were, but it's just a layer I can't seem to add at this point. The kids like it but they don't seem to miss it.

Bible time is probably the most structured subject we do. Most of our other studies are far less so, as you will see in coming days.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Lisa's Logbook - January 10


Current Mood: Tired

Outside: Clear and cold; I could see the stars when I came home. Noticed Orion just over the barn roof

Wearing: blue long johns, woolen socks, robe and slippers

Tunes: It's been mostly Mansfield Park playing in my headphones all week, but I did have a few modern tunes like Daughtry playing.

Kids Are: in bed and hopefully asleep.

Hubby Is: in bed asleep

Made Me Laugh: skipping through the new version of Mansfield Park with my Austentatious co-teacher tonight. We were just comparing versions and this one came out seriously short. lol

Made Me Sad: hearing about the shooting in Arizona

Made Me Drool: walking down the Valentine candy aisle!

Blessings: went to church today, for the first time in a few weeks

Reading: Edge by Jeffrey Deaver, ALMOST done listening to Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (just 1.5 chapters) and then will go back to The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

Watching:
The Young Victoria (TWICE last week!) - If you haven't, you should!
Firefly episode 1 (the tv show) - confusing, but intriguing
Downton Abbey episode 1 (the new PBS show) - really good, except for about 60 seconds I could have done without
American Pickers (is that the name?) - a reality show about guys who drive around looking for cool Americana and selling it
Castle Season 2 - giving up on it. It's just not that good, despite Nathan Filion. Sorry, y'all.

Considering: the workouts I will do this week. It's been quite a while since I worked out and several months since I have done any running.

Working On: Lesson plans, SOF yearbook, SOF co-op plans for NEXT year (yes, already)

Accomplishments: Made it a week with no sweets! And it wasn't all that hard.

Lessons: OK, last week was just Math, Reading, and Bible. And Thursday was movie day. But THIS week, we are back full force.

Agenda: Complete lessons this week, kids have gymnastics, working 5 hours M-F, a meeting Monday, SCRAPBOOKING ALL WEEKEND!

Pic: I've got nuttin and it's past midnight!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Lisa's Logbook - 2011 Edition

Changing up the Logbook for 2011 - Hope you like the changes!

Current Mood: Relieved

Outside: Grey-ish and in the 20's. Supposed to be snowing, but it didn't.

Wearing: Red Old Navy sweats that are too short, grey long sleeved tee, red hoodie, hair in a ponytail, socks, and slippers

Tunes: Daft Punk - Soundtrack to Tron: Legacy, also just downloaded The 99 Most Essential New Year's Classics (all classical, for $1.99)

Kids Are: J & E are doing dishes, D is listening to Daft Punk and getting ready to haul the Xmas boxes out to the barn, S is flitting back and forth

Hubby Is: fixing the Christmas lights he took off the tree

Made Me Laugh: Playing Apples to Apples with a bunch of young people on New Year's Eve

Made Me Sad: hearing that a friend's marriage is in serious trouble

Made Me Drool: Watching The A-Team! (Is that bad to say? lol)

Blessings: At the thrift store, I found a pair of like-new, very warm boots for myself, as well as a very workable Regency-style dress for the ball in March.
Reading: Beguiled by Deanne Gist, listening to Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Watching: The A-Team, a bit of Doctor Who, Pride and Prejudice, Starter for 10, tried to watch Going the Distance but it was too crude
Considering: whether or not I'll still send Christmas cards since I missed Christmas AND New Year's.

Working On: Lesson plans, Getting the "new" sewing machine ready to use, fasting sweets until Valentine's Day

Accomplishments: Got through Christmas without going into debt or running out of money!, Also got the highest score on Zuma Blitz that I've ever gotten!

Lessons: starting back full force this week. But not on Monday. Just Bible, math and reading on Monday, I think.

Agenda: starting lessons this week, kids have art class, working 5 hours M-F, a baby shower on Saturday

Pic: Fun with Glow Sticks on Christmas Day (at night)